Undercover Narcotics
by MorbidAesthetic
Summary: Richard Grayson is finally getting his chance to go undercover, something he's been dreaming about for years. While undercover, he meets three people who will change his life forever, and he has to decide: which side is he on? AU
1. The Girl With The Bird

**Warnings: violence, swearing, drug use, implied sexual content, possible later explicit content.**

* * *

"Be safe, Richard!" She said, planting a kiss on his cheek. He checked his watch; the contact was supposed to pick him up any minute now.

"I will. I'll miss you, Kori." He replied, putting his wedding band in her palm and closing her fingers around it. It would only blow his cover if he took it with him, no matter how much he wanted to. He would miss his cheerful wife, even if he knew that she would be taken care of.

"I'll miss you too, Richard." Her beautiful green eyes looked at him sadly, but her mouth was in a smile. He'd wanted this opportunity for months. This was his chance to finally go undercover and bust the drug dealers that plagued his city, and she was happy for him, no matter how much she worried.

He didn't want to leave her, but he was excited for the opportunity. His boss, after several years of paperwork and following up dead leads, had given him the chance to go undercover. This was finally the day he'd been waiting for.

Richard could still hear his boss' voice echoing in his ears. Don't screw this up.

A blue Corvette pulled up along the curb, and Kori looked like she was about to cry. Richard hated that look on her, so he pulled her into a chaste kiss before walking away and climbing into the Corvette.

"Ready to go, kid?"

"Yeah. Bye, Star." Richard waved to his wife, using his pet name for her.

"Goodbye, Richard!" She waved as the Corvette drove away, even as it rounded the corner. Kori already missed him. This was going to be a long break.

Back in the car, Richard and his contact were already at each other's throats.

"So, you ever gone undercover before?"

"No." He replied shortly, not even looking at the driver.

"Don't fuck it up." Xavier said shortly, staring at the road. A few minutes after they started driving, he turned on the radio to a rock station and started bobbing his head. Richard was already annoyed, but said nothing. His boss would rip him a new one if he pissed Xavier off, and they were already off to a bad start, if his being addressed as "kid" was any indication.

"Any tips?" He asked tersely, though if it was from his nerves or from the agitation that Xavier was feeling, he wasn't sure. As his first time going undercover, he was sure there would be some close calls, but as the driver had said, he couldn't fuck it up or he would end up dead. He would have to come home to Kori, as he had promised her the night before.

"Don't get caught, and if someone offers you drugs, take them. Shit's expensive, and it usually means they're testing you."

"I know."

"Even if it's a girl."

"Yeah, I get it." And they drove in silence after that. Xavier had turned up the radio so that they couldn't talk anymore.

Xavier annoyed the shit out of Richard, and it wasn't only because he was a criminal. Richard didn't think that Xavier was even his real name, and if it was, then it was fucking stupid. None of the informants went by their real names, and the only way to find out was to look for their file in the mess that was a filing cabinet. No one ever bothered.

The office staff who were supposed to be organizing the files never did their jobs, and instead functioned as the lead gossips in the entire police force. Anyone could get any information they wanted about anyone, for the right price. Richard had bought information on Roy the first time they'd met for a grilled cheese and greasy McDonald's fries.

The Corvette stopped at a sketchy-looking alley and turned his car off, turning to look at Richard expectantly. The other man stared back at him for moment before climbing out of the car, and as soon as the passenger door had closed, Xavier drove off like some mad man.

Annoyed, Richard's hands traveled to his pockets to make sure he still had the cash and the throw away cell he had brought with him. After a last look around, and after staring at the shitty little apartment building he was supposed to be living in for the next four to seven months, he steeled himself and walked inside.

It was about as clean as expected. Richard was fairly certain he saw some sort of insect skitter across the floor as he walked in, and there was no one at the security desk, only a sex doll in their place.

The elevator looked even worse; both up/down buttons were broken, and one of the lights wasn't even turned on, but he got inside anyway. His apartment was on the twelfth floor, and he refused to go up twelve flights of stairs.

Unfortunately, there was already someone on the elevator when he stepped into it. A girl stood in the corner, texting on her cell phone. Her thigh-length coat had ravens all over it, blending into the fabric except for one facing opposite her face on the hood.

Creepily enough, one of the birds stood on her shoulder, as if it had no other place to be. Its eyes watched Richard, and he suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to get out of the elevator.

"Yes, it's a real bird." She said suddenly, breaking the silence without looking up from her phone.

"I didn't say anything."

"I'm fully aware of that, Dick."

"That was rude." He retorted, angry at the name she had called him.

"Isn't that your name?" The girl said, amusement on her lips. She took out a cigarette, and before he could stop her, her lighter had flickered open, bouncing off of her chakra.

Soon smoke was floating out of her mouth and towards the ceiling, but the raven's eyes never wavered from him.

"Why is the bird staring at me?" He asked, staring back at the… the… the _thing_ that sat on her shoulder. It didn't waver, just readjusted it's standing position.

The girl didn't answer him; this was her floor. He looked up at the elevator's floor indicator and realized with annoyance that this was the twelfth floor. This was his floor.

Just before the girl turned down the hall to get to her apartment, she pressed a piece of paper into his palm and he watched as the raven on her shoulder turned around to stare at him as she walked down the hall, instead of staying in position on her shoulder.

Pocketing the piece of paper, he unlocked apartment 12C and went inside. It wasn't as much of a shithole as he'd figured it would be; he only saw one roach skittering across the floor when the light switch was flipped on.

Letting his bag fall to the floor, he realized he missed his wife. Kori would always know what to say, and how to make the apartment look better. She would know how to get rid of the roaches that were bound to bother him endlessly- there was no way that there was just the one he saw- and she would know what to do about the creepy girl in the elevator.

Finally, he pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket. On it read a name, number, and instruction to follow.

 _Raven_

 _649-1788_

 _Come to apartment 12E at nine tomorrow_

Raven. How ironic. So her name was Raven, and she had a raven on her shoulder. He almost groaned out loud, but didn't because he knew that he didn't want to attract attention to himself. Instead, he thought about the elevator ride again.

The girl had certainly taken him by surprise. She'd known who he was, and that was a warning sign in of itself. But she'd called him Dick, not Richard. If she'd really known who he was, she probably would have called him Richard, like most did.

"Shit." This could throw a wrench in the entire plan if she already knew. It could ruin the plans for his undercover position, but it could also get him killed in the long run, and he couldn't let that happen. He'd promised Kori. He'd promised his wife.

Fine. He'd follow Raven's instructions. He didn't trust her, but this was all he had right now, and it wasn't as if he had many other leads to follow. This was the first step.

At least, that's what he told himself.

* * *

She unlocked her apartment door and stepped inside, almost instantly dropping to pet her cat, who had come to greet her at the door. The raven on her shoulder protested the sudden movement, flying off into the main room, where the television was on.

Her roommate sat on the couch, playing a video game with his boyfriend, who sat next to him. An argument had already started between them, an argument that she knew would be her job to resolve later.

"Hey Rae." Her roommate said over his shoulder, barely sparing her a glance before he had to get back to his game. She watched them play for a moment before heading off to her bedroom. She nearly sighed once she sat on her bed and ran her hands through the fuzz of the blanket.

Thinking back on her day, she could not find too many interesting things other than what had just happened. It'd been slow, mostly because the stupid fucking NYPD had pulled off a drug bust earlier in the week, so all of the junkies were either in jail or scared.

The man on the elevator had been interesting, to say the least. Everyone in the building, except maybe herself and Vic, her roommate, was creeped out by the raven. It was a universal constant.

It wasn't even really hers. It had just settled with her one day, and if that wasn't creepy enough, it would sit on her shoulder if she didn't move too much, like a parrot. Raven fed it and let it stay, so it would stay with her, but it had just happened. It wasn't like she had any control over that.

She thought it amusing that he became defensive when she said his name. It had been an insult, but then she'd just gone with it as his name and was pleasantly surprised when she turned out to be correct. Sometimes people would say that she was a mind reader, but she claimed to have no magical ability of her own.

The annoyance was evident as they got off of the elevator on the same floor. Raven had to admit to herself: she was intrigued. So she'd hastily scrawled name, number, and instructions for the next day and gave it to him. Vaguely offended when he merely shoved it in his pocket, she figured he would check it later, or forget about it.

He looked sketchy enough; and sketchy people were Raven's forte. Vic wasn't particularly sketchy, but they'd been friends for a long time and he was one of the few people she trusted. Vic's boyfriend was another matter. That guy was an annoying jackass who could hardly be trusted to bury a body, much less keep quiet about said body.

Even though she had her suspicions about Dick, (she was 40% sure he was a cop), she would let him in anyway. If it turned out he was a cop, there was always murder. None of them were ever opposed to murder, and it efficiently solved the problem.

Raven wasn't usually too violent, but when it came to her friends, she would defend them no matter what happened. Even if they stabbed her in the back.

She would find more out about him soon enough, even if she wasn't sure if he would follow the instructions or even check the note. The bug she'd placed in his bag would tell her all that she needed to know.

 **End of Chapter One**


	2. Pawn Shops and Shit Television

It was nine. He knocked on the door again, waiting outside like a delivery guy. Soon enough the door opened and a short, blond man opened the door, wearing an oversized tee shirt and no pants. Running his hands through his hair, he looked at him expectantly.

Dick stared at him for a moment, before snapping out of it.

"Yes, um, I was looking for Raven?" He said, regretting making it sound like a question. "Are you her… boyfriend?"

"What? No, I'm Gar. Vic's boyfriend." The blonde said, looking back into the house. "Vic! Where's Rae?" He yelled, and the other man stood there awkwardly while Gar and presumably Vic yelled back and forth before finally a female voice came into the mix.

"Shut up!" She yelled, before coming out of her room. It was clear that Dick had woken them up, but this was what the instructions said, weren't they?

"Dick?" Raven asked as she came to the front. Gar just laughed at the name.

"Ha! Your name is like a- ow!" He was cut off as she pushed him down the hallway of the apartment.

"I'm surprised you can even walk. Go back to bed." She said harshly, and Gar just left, sulking as he walked down the hallway. After the blonde man had successfully turned into a room that Dick assumed was a bedroom, she turned back to the doorway.

"You said be here at nine." He said defensively before she could say anything.

"Yes, nine. As in nine at night, when the rest of us are functional. What world do you live in?" Raven said, staring at him as he tried to think of a response.

"Shit."

"Do you always follow the instructions of strangers?" She asked, looking amused. He didn't answer, instead just walked away back to his apartment on the other end of the hallway. "Be back here at nine." She said, and then walked inside her apartment, closing the door.

Dick walked away, feeling stupid. He should have known that she'd meant nine at night, and her amusement only added to the feeling of incompetence.

Once he got back to his own apartment, he started to overthink it, as usual. Did it make him look like a cop that he was extremely early and would just follow instructions that an odd teenager gave him in the elevator? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

If he kept screwing up, he would end up dead, and he knew it. That's what made it all worse, in a way. After all, ignorance is bliss. He almost wished that he could just be stupid and walk into something head first without thinking and just get himself killed already.

The whole thing was a fluke anyway. There was no proof that Raven and her friends were even the criminals he was looking for, but he had nothing else to go on and he was curious about the girl, about Raven, and her friends, the blonde guy- what was his name?- and someone named Vic.

He left his crappy apartment, figuring that he should at least go get something to eat in the meantime. It almost made him wish he was at the precinct, eating donuts with his partner, all the while listening to him complain about the paperwork. He missed paperwork.

More than that, though, he missed his partner. Roy Harper was very annoying and people often couldn't tell them apart, sure, but he missed the easy rivalry and the way they were so similar, usually thinking the same thing and being able to move in sync while taking down criminals. Roy was a jackass, but they were still friends.

The walk down to the pizza place down at the end of the block was cold; he wished he'd brought a jacket. There was one in the duffel bag in his apartment, but he'd already started walking, and he refused to walk back when he was warming up anyway. He'd be fine to get to the end of the block, no matter how cold it was.

Once he walked into the restaurant, he could feel himself warming even more. It was a pizza place called Luna Pizza or something like that; he'd heard good things about it, even though he'd never been here himself. When the waitress came over, he ordered a Diet Coke and a slice of cheese pizza.

While he waited for his order, he looked around the cheap restaurant at the people sitting around him. Two couples sat in the corner, by the window; they looked like they were about to have sex in the booth, just out of sight of the family on the other side. The mother looked like she was about to scream, with five kids running around and three of them under ten.

A shriek of laughter from two tables away from him, two girls separated from each other as their pizza was set in front of them, laughing at how the grease would drip off of the pizza onto the paper plate. They took napkins and mopped it up, taking a bite off of the cheesy food.

Dick did the same as his pizza arrived, piling about four napkins on top of it before most of the grease had been mopped off. The slice was huge, as typical New York style, and even though he was still a little hungry afterwards, he didn't order a second slice, knowing that it would just make him too full.

Leaving cash on the table, and glancing over at the two couples in the corner, (God he missed Kori), he left the restaurant, noticing that it was still only eleven in the morning. Letting his hands lie in his pockets, he walked down the street, stopping just under the Brooklyn Bridge to listen as cars ran over it and the entire bridge vibrated.

Wishing he could go back to his own apartment, he looked at the apartment building that he was staying in before turning into a pawn shop on the corner, quickly scanning the area before setting his sights on the man at the counter. He was a large man, and Dick was glad for his sunglasses that covered his eyes, meaning that the man could not read him as easily.

"Hey. What do you want?" He asked, grinning like an asshole. His orange beard and hair was terrible, made worse with the yellow and black outfit he was wearing. The name tag that looked like it had seen better days read Baran Flinders.

"I need a gun." Keeping his hands in his pockets, Baran Flinders stared for a moment before pulling out a wooden box full of different types of guns, mostly handguns.

"Ha, we have a lot of those." Mammoth- as Dick had nicknamed him, really the man was huge- said, nearly slamming the box on the glass counter in front of him. Someone came out of the back, a girl with a cigarette in her mouth. Her nametag read Jennifer, no last name. She looked over at him with a bored expression, watching the static-filled television in the corner.

"How much?" Dick asked, picking one up out of the pile. It looked decent enough, only a few scratch marks visible. Mammoth looked at it, then turned to Jennifer, who was still watching television with her cigarette.

"Uh, how much again?" He asked her, causing her to turn around irritably with a roll of her eyes. She made him wait for a minute while she took a drag, and then spoke:

"Hundred fifty. God, you people can't remember anything!" She said, angrily turning back to her show, which looked like it was on commercials at the moment, so she didn't have much reason to be pissy. She wasn't missing anything by answering him.

"A hundred fifty." The large man repeated, turning back to the counter to face Dick. He dropped $150 on the countertop and took the gun with him, paying another $60 for a decent amount of rounds. Leaving the store, he shot into the weak grass around the building, satisfied when the gun worked sufficiently.

It wouldn't have been a bad thing if the cops came and shut down the place anyway.

* * *

The television was incredibly boring, but she had gotten sick of listening to Billy and Mikron argue in the back of the store. Seymour and Mikron were trying to rebuild some sort of television, one that they'd found in the dump or somewhere like that. It would hopefully replace the old clunker that they had out here now.

She couldn't focus on the television, too preoccupied with their first customer of the day, some asshole who came in looking for his gun. His sunglasses made him look like a dick, but he didn't seem to care too much about whether or not he could see jack shit.

When Baran had asked her what the price was, it just made her mood plummet down Niagara Falls, because these people wouldn't even remember their own names if they had all gone with the stupid nicknames that Seymour had created. She was definitely the leader of these people, and if she wasn't around, they would all probably die or end up arrested in the time frame of an hour.

Her real job was running the pawn shop, even though Baran technically owned the building and most of the stuff that was pawned. A lot of the stuff that people pawned was shitty and broken, but they would give the person (who was more than likely broke and hoping for anything) their price, and there would be no arguments about what was paid for the item.

Jennifer was her real name. Some people called her Jenny, a few called her Jenn, but most people who knew her called her Jinx. She didn't really mind the nickname, and it was well deserved in her life, they all knew. Wherever she went, bad luck usually followed her and the people she hung around with, which was the main reason that she hung out with the idiots she did, because they were just smart enough to stay out of her way and stupid enough that they weren't scared of her.

She didn't like any of them. She wouldn't go so far as to say that she hated them, but they were certainly annoying and Jenny wasn't sure how she would feel if they died or got arrested or something. The girl would never admit it, but she had grown fond of them, almost like they were pets that shit on the carpet all the time.

Baran was thick-headed and obnoxious. He would follow the rest of the six, even if the plan was something incredibly stupid. Mikron was extremely childish, and made the rest of them watch for wires as they walked around the shop and make sure there were no open sparking wires.

Seymour was less annoying, and could probably take care of himself if he needed to, but he listened to her for the most part and would usually follow her orders. Billy was a hillbilly that was mostly harmless, just irritating and airheaded. His mouth could move faster than his brain, which had gotten him into trouble once or twice, but other than that he was just annoying.

Elliot was a mystery to her. He only really talked to Seymour, and just followed the others around a bit. She was pretty sure that he had a girlfriend, some chick labeled in his phone as "Angel" (really, could you get any more lovey-dovey? It made her want to puke), but he'd never mentioned her, and Jenny couldn't ask because then he'd know that she'd gone through everybody's phones. She did about once a week just out of pure boredom. She knew all their passwords.

She still sat in front of the static-filled television, watching some unknown news channel now, after she'd dug around for the broken remote. The guy who had bought the gun left, shooting a round into the grass like a douche. Jenny didn't even jump at the sudden noise, she was so used to it. As another customer came inside, she didn't even have to turn to see them to know who had just walked in.

The light tread, the sound of a bird, and she knew exactly who it was.

"Hey, Raven."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hey, people. I don't really know what to say about this chapter, other than to ask if you guys figured out who everyone was. The reason I changed from calling Robin Richard to Dick when it's in his view is because he's trying to change how he thinks about himself, as Dick instead of Richard. It makes sure he won't slip up as much and he can try to keep the undercover cop part of him that does bad things separate from the cop who always tries to do the right thing. It's very similar to how Robin and Red X (Robin's Red X, not the mystery Red X) were different people.

Also, thank you to the people who took the time to review my story!


	3. Gone Girls

He waited a minute or so before walking into the bar, slipping his handgun in the back of his pants before he went inside. Azarath was sketchy, and the girl who ran it was certainly no exception. It was said that she ran drug deals behind the bar, and he knew that to be true firsthand.

"Jaeger bomb," He said, tapping his fingers on the bar. She looked up at him with a vaguely annoyed look, but set upon making the drink anyway.

"What do you want, Xavier? Or should I say, Red X?" She asked, rolling her eyes at the silly nickname he had somehow acquired on the streets, due to the old junkies having a good laugh at his expense. He hated it.

"Don't call me that. Especially not in such a public place. People will hear you," when she pushed the shot over to him, he knocked it back and nearly dropped the glass on the table. She didn't move to take it, or to clean it. Instead, she started to wipe down the bar.

"Why are you here?" She asked again, growing impatient with him.

"Well, sweetheart, I'm here because there will be a very important person coming into your life soon, and I don't want to go down when you do," That bitchy cop would pay for making him bring one of _them_ into this sort of environment, like he was tainting it. Besides, he would have fun watching the kid try to save himself and his cover.

"Who?" She asked, her eyes sweeping over the bar's patrons. Only the regulars were there tonight, with the exception of a stressed looking woman in the corner, sipping on a Scotch.

"No one you would know. Unless he's made some sort of impression already?" He said, enjoying this. Xavier would try to drag it out as long as he could. It was almost certain that the kid had already tried to establish contact, whether he had done it consciously or not.

"There's been no one," Raven spoke with a calculating sound to her tone, "but if you're telling me that there's a rat somewhere, then you better watch out. Kori's been itching to get you for weeks."

"Oh, his wife? What a pleasant surprise. Is she in your operation too?"

"Used to be. Doesn't mean that you won't be going down by her hands." Raven showed no reaction to the 'wife' comment. She could deal with that later. For now, she would find this mole and make him pay. Though Xavier was an asshole who couldn't be trusted to tell a homeless man he was broke, he did occasionally come through for her, and she couldn't brush him off without at least checking her stocks and cutting her losses in people.

"Kori got out, remember?" Xavier said, drumming his fingers on the countertop. She rolled her eyes when she noticed the fingerprints that were now on her once-clean counter. He took no notice. "She got out of this shit. She's what you want to be."

"You don't know what I want. This is my life." She replied, lighting a cigarette. The smoke curled towards the ceiling.

"You and her had a thing going for a while there, didn't you? It hit you hard when she left, if I remember correctly. Or was that just an act?"

"There was never anything like that between us, if that's what you're implying." Raven scoffed.

"And of course, who could forget that other girl. What was her name? Terra?"

"Get out."

Xavier was thrown unceremoniously out of Azarath, and he brushed his pants off with a sigh. Raven would do this periodically, and though it rarely lasted longer than a week, it was still annoying to deal with, especially tasked with finding a new bar to go to for the week. There was that one by his apartment, but he'd been kicked out of that one for fighting a few months ago.

Oh well. It was only noon, anyway. He figured he'd check up on the kid. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he moved towards the kid's apartment building, figuring he'd still be at home.

The walk to the subway station was short, but he had to go at least five stops to get to the kid's apartment building. He didn't live in the area, and there seemed to be few places that he wanted to go to in that area of the city.

The subway was warmer than it was outside. This wasn't saying much, but even so Xavier appreciated it in a sense. He kept his eyes on the ground, per the rules, and eventually got off at the stop he needed to get to in order to check on the kid.

A short walk to the building, and he walked inside, turning to the security desk automatically to check for guards. He was amused when he saw that a blow-up sex doll had been left in place of the security guard, and continued walking.

Taking the elevator (even though it looked like it would break any day now) up to the twelfth floor, he went to apartment number 12C, knocked, and waited.

It was only a couple of minute before the kid answered the door, but Xavier didn't like to be kept waiting, and standing out in the middle of a hallway like a creep was something he hated doing.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the kid opened the door. He looked disheveled, and there was some tape sticking to his shirt sleeve. Before he could say anything, Xavier made his way inside, and Dick closed the door behind him, wordlessly following him to the main room.

"So, how is the job going?" He said casually, looking at the wall. There were pictures taped up, one of each of the members of the apartment two doors down. Raven was in the corner, with Vic and Gar taped next to her, connected by string. Xavier himself was taped on the wall, with no strings connecting him to anyone yet. There was information on the bottom of each photo, with the most information on Raven, practically nothing on Gar and Vic, and a few things from his file on Xavier.

"It's going." Dick replied, dragging a hand through his hair, pushing it back.

"Nothing on me," He murmured, looking at the pictures closely. The picture of him was away from the rest, and it was the one from his file. The other pictures, he wasn't sure where they came from, and he didn't particularly care.

The point was that Dick was starting to put the pieces together, one by one, like an overly complicated puzzle.

"You're missing someone." He said, sliding a picture out of his pocket.

"Who?" Dick asked, walking over to take the picture. It was a girl with bubblegum pink hair and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, she looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place her

"Know her?"

"She looks familiar."

"Yeah, you probably got your gun from her pawn shop. Her real name is Jennifer, but people call her Jinx." Xavier said, and it clicked.

"She's involved in this?"

"Isn't everyone? If you're going to take this ring down, you better start paying better attention to people you meet. As soon as you left, someone else walked in. You remember Raven, right?"

"Yes, I remember Raven."

"Keep tabs on her, she's the entire head of the operation."

"Really?"

"Who did you think was the head? Vic is just her roommate, Gar is with Vic. She controls Vic, who controls Gar. It isn't a very large operation, not yet, but it's growing. You need to cut it at the root." Xavier explained.

"You're right, it isn't very large at all, if it's only four people."

"There are more than that, but people have left, others have disappeared."

"Who has left?"

"A girl named Terra, a girl people used to call Starfire. Starfire used to have the best drugs in the business, and it's rumored that she still does. Find her, and you'll have the main supplier to Raven and her people."

"And Terra?"

"Terra is gone. Raven completely renounced her, but it is also a sore subject, so don't try to poke the bruise too much."

Xavier moved to the empty section below Raven, taking a piece of tape off of the roll and taping the photo below her, adding a piece of string to the photos.

"You've gotten a good start to this."

"Oh, fuck off. What do you want, Xavier? I know you didn't just stop by to check on me."

"What's to say I didn't?"

"Because I may not know much about you, but I know you aren't a social person."

"I came here because I need you to find someone."

"Who?"

"Terra."


End file.
